it's a good question. is 14 days left. and then it is too late just to ask the question. romney quickly distanced himself from. >> polls begin to shift. and the need for speed. driving 8 amiles per hour in the u.s. starting today is perfectly legal. we'll tell you where. good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. well, the romney campaign could be waking up this morning

to a brand new political he headache as yet another political candidate makes explosive comments over rain. it was during a u.s. senate debate in indiana last night. richard murdoch and his opponents were out exciting plans available to anyone with medicare. pl nd i think when life begins in that horrible situatn of rain that it is something that god intended to happen. >> after the debate murdoch told the news conference he was only trying to explain his view that god creates life. >> are you trying to suggest that somehow i think god ordained or pro-ore daend rain. i don't believe that.

that's a sick and twisted -- no, no, that's not close to what i said. >> this all matters to the romney team because the comments come just one day after the murdoch campaign began running a new ad featuring governor romney. >> there's so much at stake. i hope you'll join me in supporting richard murdoch for u.s. senate. >> late last night, the romney campaign issued a statement reading governor romney disagrees with richard mourdock's comments. dnc chair debbie wasserman schultz slammed the remarks as outrageous and demeaning. governor romney has a slight lead over president obama in a new poll. romney is head of the president 49% to 48%. that was only after rounding off the decimal points. since the numbers are within the margin of error, the two candidates are in a virtual tie.

and the time to press the flesh is getting short for the keanes as they try to lock in every single last vote before november 6th. nbc's tracie potts has details for us from washington. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. they're doing it by crisscrossing this country, hitting the battleground states. let's talk about governor romney. is he in nevada and iowa today. he's going to be in ohio tomorrow after last night rallying with his running mate, paul ryan. he had a huge rally in colorado, in addition to that "washington post"/abc poll there's a virtual tie in the latest reuters poll. he's only one point behind, essentially a tie. he says that president obama is slipping because he's promoting the same ideas, nothing new for the next four years. meantime, the obama/biden team in dayton, ohio late last night at a rally. the president showing off yesterday a new booklet that he

says details his plan for the next four years. one that he says where the math adds up. he has a huge campaign schedule over the next three days in eight states including iowa, colorado and california and an appearance on jay leno tonight. the white house and state department were advised an islamic militant group was behind the benghazi attack two hours after that assault began. this is information that is according to a report by the reuters news agency. they managed to obtain e-mails that describe the attack as it was still under way. the white house and the state department have not commented yet on these e-mails. here's your "first look" at some of the other news going on around america today. let's begin with a deadly shark attack in southern california. a 39-year-old man was killed while surfing in the waters off surf beach. he was pronounced dead at the

scene. this is the second fatal attack in two years at surf beach which does not have any shark warning signs posted. officials are investigating to determine what kind of shark was actually involved. now to texas where the fast and furious can get their fix on the nation's speediest roadway. starting today, driving 85 miles per hour on parts of highway 130 are perfectly legal. the new 40-mile toll road makes the trip between austin and san antonio a lot faster. safety experts predict an increase in crashes and deaths. and finally, officials athe san diego zoo are looking for a little help. get out your pen and paper. they are asking to name this giant panda cub that was born 12 months ago. the potential names have been whittled down from 7,000 to 6. miracle, raindrop, big ocean or big sea, little gift, brave son or water dragon.

online voting is open until october 30th. how about just really, really cute. now for a look at your wednesday weather, another really, really cute meteorologist, bill karins. >> i didn't see your addition to cutie mccute on the list. >> oh, that's a good one. we'll throw that in there with the other 7,000. not so much today but in the days ahead, a lot of potential with what happens with sandy. unfortunately this storm is intensifying and it looks like jamaica will get hit with a hurricane as we go into this afternoon into this evening. a pin needful of an eye has begun to form. worst-case scenario would be a category 2 hurricane. by their standards, it will do damage but it won't be a huge blow. then it will cross cuba and then all eyes will be on the south. the new advisory just out from the hurricane center, tropical storm watches have been issued for the southeastern portion of florida. we're thinking now that there's the potential at least for some

of the gusty winds to make it towards florida. here's the new forecast path for tropical storm sandy. over cuba thursday, on friday going through the bahamas. most likely the central bahamas. close enough to south florida for large waves, outer bands of rain are possible. wind gusts, 30 to 40 mile per hour winds. you notice there's a storm around. the storm does the hook towards bermuda. these storms will exit. we're safe on the east coast. this one is different. the computer models were showing, again, heading towards bermuda. what happens after that there's a big blocking high pressure out here. it's not going to allow sandy to escape. it could be captured by the jet stream and cold air over the mid-atlantic. that storm could possibly be a huge nor'easter for areas of the mid-atlantic and the northeast come monday/tuesday. it may be a potential big super storm. we'll have to watch that and i'll have details as it approaches. >> bill, thanks so much. coming up, disturbing new details about the murder of a

12-year-old little girl. and the fallout from a massive solar flare. and the obama blueprint for hunting terrorists. it's called the disposition matrix. those details straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. my insurance rates are probably gonna double. but, dad, you've got... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. with accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. are you in good hands?

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some stories making news this morning. today's "washington post" reports the obama administration is developing a new way of pursuing terrorists. the disposition matrix contains terrorist suspects names laid out against resources available to track them down. it's designed to map out ways to reach suspects beyond the reach of unmanned drones. the colorado secretary of state says 3$300 more suspect noncitizens have been found on the state's voter roles. the names were among the more than 3,900 people who received letters in august questioning their citizenship. a former cia officer faces 2 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to leaking the

name of a covert officer to a reporter. in 2007 john was the first official to go public about the government's use of waterboarding as an interrogation technique. devastating news here, police in south jersey say two teenage brothers have been arrested and charged with luring a 12-year-old girl into their home and murdering her. the strangulated body of autumn pasquale who had been missing since the weekend was found stuffed in a recycling bin. the suspect's mother reported a posting on her son's facebook account. nasa says the sun unleashed an intense solar flare monday night which caused a brief radio bra blackout. you've heard that expression, nothing is cleaner than a dog's mouth. a study finds more than 70% of dog's mouths contain disease-causing bacteria that

can lead to gum disease and other ailments in humans. all right. now here's your "first look" at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. let's break down that "washington post"/abc poll a bit more. mitt romney enjoys good numbers when it comes to handling the economy. leading president obama by 5%. but both candidates share the same amount of enthusiasm among supporters at about 62%. ohio is the big winner when it comes to the most campaign spending. $177 million worth, more than any other state. "the new york times" statistical genius nate silver crunched the numbers. he sees the buckeye state have a 50/50 chance of being the decisive vote in the electoral college. at the ended of monday's debate, mitt romney's son could be seen apologizing to the president after saying he had wanted to take a swing at him during a radio interview. the president accepted the

apology. there you go. many think that bob schieffer did a good job as moderator with one notable exception. >> your response that? i would just ask you, would you have stuck with mubarak? >> america decline every year for middle income families, now down $4,300 during your term. >> pakistan has arrested the doctor who captured obama's bin laden. >> bob schieffer said to my wife, did i say that? she said, yes, you did. a little mistake. what are you going to do? president obama will appear live on mtv friday. if you thought the presidential debate could use jazzing up, guess what? the internet as usual is here to help with a little auto tune.

>> your response to that. i would just ask you, would you have stuck with mubarak? >> it's true in order for us to be competitive -- >> america decline every year for middle income families. >> all right. a little technical difficulty. there's the auto tune of the debate. if you want to see the whole thing, head to my website and twitter pages. apparently we have it now. take a listen. >> for violating rules we are going to insist that china plays by the same rules. >> they're hacking into our computers, stealing our patents, designs. >> okay. >> china's a potential partner. >> we want to trade with them but you've got to play by the rules. >> we promise and we deliver. you want to hear the whole thing? go to my facebook and twitter pages. that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. and now here's your "first look" at how wall street will

kick off the day. the dow closed at 13,102. the s&p fell 20, the nasdaq 26. in tokyo, the nikkei was down 59 points. in hong kong, the hang seng gained 66 points. corporate caution hit wall street hard tuesday and could sink stocks again today. after the bell, dow chemical released earnings two days early and said it's slashing 2,400 jobs and closing 20 manufacturing plants to help save precious cash. on upside, facebook's revenue jumped 32%, sending shares higher in late trading. apple finally unveiled its ipad mini yesterday. the new handheld will start at $329. if you've swiped a credit card at barnes & noble recently you may want to change your pin number. that's because the company says a security breach in its pin pads last month may have compromised customers' information. a new study finds the gender

pay gap is still dogging women, including recent college grads who earn on average 82% of their male peers. kiplinger's has rated yale as the best value. be careful from driving their new figures. claims are up almost 8% in the last four years, costing over $4 billion in damage. new york city's central park got its biggest donation ever, $100 million from hedge fund billionaire john paulson. barneys is under fire for its electric ad campaign. it features a very skinny minnie mouse. and the national retail federation estimates americans will spend 370 million bucks on

costumes this halloween for their pets. the top picks, pumpkins, devils, and hot dogs. eva longoria splits from her jet setting man. sports, straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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pitching matchup features two former cy young award winners. justin verlander for detroit and barry zito for the giants. >> a lot of the circumstances swirling around, you know, this should not be a factor. sometimes they are. but it's my job to focus on what's important. >> just being able to take it in a little more, having experience under my belt and having been in some situations like this allows me not to be so wide eyed and be able to be a little bit calmer and just kind of take things in. >> game one starts tonight 8:00 p.m. eastern time. the miami marlins have a hot new stadium, a franchise record $93 million payroll and a new job opening for a new manager. yesterday they fired ozzie guillen after one season. the reason, a terrible record and because of his early comments admiring fidel castro which did not sit well with some fans. the marlins still owe him over $7 million.

let's go over to the nba where lebron james takes matters into his own hands as the heat win their third straight preseason game, 98-92. over charlotte. over to chicago where the bulls got off to a quick start with a crazy, no-look over the back pass layup for a 94-89 win over the oklahoma city thunder. and finally the world's fastest man, you know that guy, olympic champion sprinter usain bolt. he did his trademark lightening bolt pose high above rio de janeiro in brazil. that is, of course, the home of the next summer olympic games. now for another look at the weather. here's bill karins. he's checking the forecast for you. >> still very warm in new england. it's been hitting the showers. there is potential for a strong nor'easter right before halloween next week. more details as that approaches. we could be seeing really strong winds, heavy rain, flooding and

rough surf and coastal areas, again, monday, tuesday. this morning, nothing like that. showers traveling across northern pennsylvania. we may see a few areas around new york city. temperatures mild, washington, d.c. buffalo, slight chance of showers for you. we're warm across much of the country. we are watching the cold air plunge down from the north. that's where the cold air will hit first. we have the cold air coming and then a hurricane coming up possibly just off the east coast. it will be very interesting to see what happens around here next week. >> it will be rough. you're watching, i'm sure. thanks so much. a halloween fright comes early for some unsuspecting families in england. station about once a month. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i go to the gas station such a small amount

that i forget how to put gas in my car. [ male announcer ] and it's not just these owners giving the volt high praise. volt received the j.d. power and associates appeal award two years in a row. ♪ yeah. yeah. then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate safe driving bonus check? what is that? so weird, right? my agent, tom, said... [ voice of dennis ] ...only allstate sends you a bonus check for every six months you're accident-free... ...but i'm a woman. maybe it's a misprint. does it look like a misprint? ok. what i was trying... [ voice of dennis ] silence. ♪ ask an allstate agent about the safe driving bonus check. are you in good hands? hey, bro. or engaging. conversations help us learn and grow. at wells fargo, we believe you can never underestimate the power of a conversation.

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i can't believe halloween is only a week away. >> i know. i love halloween. i can't wait to dress up as someone who's completely different from who i actually am. >> you should go as mitt romney from the debates. >> this is good-bye. >> yep.beauty of the awkward exchange. it is good to be the child of an a-list celebrity.

they are joining the cast of "maleficent." eva longoria and 25-year-old mark sanchez are history just after three months. that didn't last long. a source close to the actress tells the new york daily news, the age difference and her hollywood lifestyle were to blame. >> at least tony parker won championships. >> smack says the jets fan. and finally, expecting to see madagascar iii at a theater in england, reportedly families got an unexpected fright when this movie, "paranormal activity 4" started playing. theater managers blame a technical error. one mom said the first two minutes of the film were enough to scare them and scar them for life. >> it took her two minutes to realize an animated film wasn't showing? >> probably a solid point. are you questioning her parenting skills. >> i would never question any

mom's parenting skills. that is rule number one. >> strongly worded treat coming your way. i'm lynn berry, this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. president obama, mitt romney leave boca headed for the swing states that will determine who gets this job. the question is with razor thin margins in nearly all those places what's going to give one of these guys the edge? indiana has one of the tight senate races that's being watched closely and even more so now after republican candidate richard mourdock weighs in on rain and god's will. will the comment swing the race out of republican hands? and game one of the world series in san francisco tonight. we're still talking about the last place boston red sox. the question is what does fired manager bobby valentine have to say about his team quitting on him? it's "way too early" for this.